astronomy • marlene mckinnon

fifty five

The word destruction wasn't enough to describe Astraea's surroundings. She winced at the sight of the wall between two classrooms breaking down, the whole corridor being a mess, as the small group of five walked towards the Great Hall.

"Terrible isn't it?" The auror who was right next to her looked at her with grave eyes, and the raven-haired girl nodded, pretending as if she wasn't the reason that the pillar they had just walked past was broken, causing the roof to be imbalanced.

She and Evan Rosier were in the Slytherin dorms after the death eaters had announced a retreat, in the blond's old dorm to be specific, as he delivered the joyful news of the dark lord's suspicion that the Order of the Phoenix, though arriving twenty minutes after the death eaters had attacked, were aware of an attack and were prepared for the same. She was just telling him to piss off for even trying to say that Isabella Fawley might be the one who spread the date of the attack when they had heard a sound of a crash and footsteps fading away rather quickly.

They had acted faster than ever before after that, the fear of someone finding out about the dark mark on their arms clouding their minds. Evan had placed every concealment charm he could think of on the dark mark on her left forearm, and she had rolled her sleeves up as they rushed towards the fireplace, spraining her ankle in the process, the blond disappearing through the flames just as three Aurors, followed by a worried Marlene McKinnon, rushed into the Slytherin common room.

They had asked her what she was doing there, their eyes on her markless forearm, and she had told them she was hiding in one of the dorms, just trying to save herself, when she had heard a noise outside and decided to explore. They seemed to believe her, considering that she was still in her Hogwarts uniform and actually quite injured for someone who was supposedly attacking the school and had only asked her if she had seen anyone else, to which she shook her head and pointed at the fireplace stating that it looked like it was quite recently used.

One of the Aurors fixed her broken ankle, while the others went through the wreck which was once the Slytherin common room and dormitories, Marlene following behind one of the Aurors, leaving the raven-haired girl as the Auror checking for her injuries complained about the destruction which surrounded them. Once all of them made sure that everything was quite alright, they walked out, leading to her current position, eyes wide as she entered the Great Hall.

There were no tables, neither the ones for their exams nor the four long tables divided by their houses. It was full of people, not mattering which Hogwarts House you belonged to- unless you were a Slytherin pureblood- proved by the looks she received from a few as she went into the hall.

"Parents would be coming to pick the students up soon," The auror who fixed her ankle spoke— she never bothered to learn her name— giving the seventh-year a small smile as she turned around in surprise at the dreadful news. Hogwarts was over earlier than it should have been. "You could go back to your dorm to pack your stuff."

Astraea gave the auror an incredulous look, "You do realise that my dorm is the place we just came from?"

The auror winced, "I know, I just got the information right now."

"Okay," She spoke slowly, her mind moving to her younger brother and how she could not see his face in the crowd assembling in the Great Hall. "I'm going to go to the Astronomy Tower first, I think I left my book bag in the classroom."

It was true, but not completely because she wouldn't really go there and would have instead gone to the secret room where hopefully Regulus and Barty were and give them the green signal, after which they would go to the Slytherin dormitories and pack their own bags. The auror looked at her sceptically, "Is your ankle fine?"